Setting Up South Dakota Residency for RVers (Pt. 1)

How to choose a mail forwarding service, and what you need to become a resident of South Dakota. This has been long overdue, I briefly mentioned in my write up about Big Sioux that it cost me a total of $382 to register my vehicles (this was back in 2012) but never explained why, and I never talked about why I went with My Dakota Address for mail forwarding, so here it all is.

Disclaimer: This information was correct to the best of my knowledge when this post was published in November 2012, but laws and prices (and links) change all the time. South Dakota no longer holds quite the cost advantage for becoming a resident as it did in 2012 when I first “moved” here, but it’s still not a bad option. If you’ve noticed any discrepancies between what I’ve written below and what you’ve found to be true since then, please let me know so I can update it. Thanks. Last updated 8/15/17.

Many full-time RVers choose South Dakota for their domicile state, and I’ve discussed the reasons before. No state income tax, only a 4% sales tax (although some counties add onto that), and because it’s easy to become a resident. Their vehicle registration fees went up again in April 2015, but are still reasonable – cheaper than South Carolina and Wisconsin were anyway.

Choosing a mail forwarding service in South Dakota opens up the door for you to become a resident there, but there are two things you need to do at a minimum on top of this: get a SD driver’s license, and register your vehicles. Though, as I’ve explained before the more things you can do to make the state look like your true residency, the better. But what I’m going to be focusing on here is how to get vehicle registration and driver’s license taken care of. First though, mail forwarding.

The three most popular mail forwarding companies in South Dakota are Dakota Post (formerly Alternative Resources), My Dakota Address, and America’s Mailbox. I know RVers who work with each of these companies and are satisfied customers, so you probably won’t go wrong with any of them.

Location wise, My Dakota Address is in Madison, which is about an hour Northwest of Sioux Falls, where Dakota Post is located. America’s Mailbox is in Box Elder, which is about an hour east of Rapid City on Interstate 90. Their physical locations don’t matter too much though, unless you feel the need to go to the city court house yourself to hand in your vehicle registration paperwork. More on that to come.

Any good mail forwarding service worth it’s salt will point you in the right direction for what documents work for getting your SD license and vehicle registration. In fact, many will get the vehicle registration stuff turned in for you (for a fee of course) as you don’t need to be in the state in person to do it. America’s Mailbox charges $30 for first time registrants, My Dakota Address charges $20 for the first vehicle, or $35 for two or more. Dakota Post did not have their price up on the website.

You’ll notice that each company offers several different mail forwarding options, so it’s not easy to simply state that X company is cheaper than Y, although for what I wanted (twice a month mail delivery, no e-mail notifications needed) Dakota Post was most expensive, My Dakota Address in the middle, and America’s Mailbox the cheapest. You’ll have to view each company’s prices vs. the benefits to see which works best for you.

I went with My Dakota Address, because when I was researching I found more complaints about America’s Mailbox than the other two, so ruling that one out it was the cheaper option for me – but again, I know people using each of these companies who’re happy campers. Think about if you want them to sort out your junk mail or not, how often you need mail delivered to you, and if you want notifications when you receive new mail when you’re looking at the options. Like with so many things about RVing, there is no one best plan, just the plan that works best for you.

Besides the annual rate for mail forwarding, you’ll be putting money into the account to cover postage. The minimum for My Dakota Address is $50, it’s $100 for Dakota Post, for America’s Mailbox there is no minimum. All three also have a one-time start up fee to get started: $10 for My Dakota Address, $25 for America’s Mailbox and Dakota Post – although the more expensive plans waive this fee.

Now on to vehicle registration and license plates. If you really want to drive yourself mad, you can find all this information yourself by going to the SD DMV webpage Here but I’m going to point out the important bits for you. Here is what you’re going to pay:

Costs:

Registration/title:

Title Fee – $10.00

Lien Fee (If applicable) – $10.00

Solid Waste Fee – $1.00

Highway Patrol Fee – $1.00

Wheel Tax – Varies by county, for the PDF chart (last updated January 2016) click here. For Lake county it’s $5/wheel (Max of $60 annually). Some counties don’t have a wheel tax at all.

4% of the vehicle’s purchase price in excise (sales) tax, unless you already paid at least 4% in tax in another state. So if you bought the RV and/or truck else-state and paid there, bring proof of this with you! Your bill of sale from the dealer will do the trick.

There are also late fees for failing to register your vehicle within 30 days of the purchase date, which is important if you’re going to be buying a vehicle after you ‘move’ to SD. It doesn’t matter if the actual RV purchase is in another state and you have a temporary tag from that state that lasts longer, at 31 days the late fees come into play. This late fee may also prove problematic if you’re moving from some place like South Carolina. We’ll come back to that in the second half.

License plate:

Cost varies depending on the weight and age of the vehicle.

For non-commercial cars, pickup trucks, and vans, click Here. This is a direct link to the chart from the SD DMV website. You’re looking for the weight and age of your vehicle in the rows on the left hand side, and the number 12 across the column at the top – because you’re paying to register the vehicle for 12 months. As an example, Bertha is 4,100 lbs and 16 years old. If you find where that row intersects with 12 months, it cost $75.60 to register her (as of 2017).

For a larger truck or van (still non-commercial) you’d be looking at the Gross Weight chart.

For non-commercial trailers (this includes travel trailers and 5th wheels, as well as a trailer you might pull behind a larger motorhome to carry belongings) click Here. These charts are all read the same way. Cas weighs 2,200 lbs dry weight and is 18 years old, so it costs $37.80 to register him for a year (as of 2017).

So, I kind of had 1,600 words and still wasn’t done with this article, so I broke it up into two parts. Next up will be what documents you need and forms that need to be filled out to get your vehicles registered in South Dakota, and Driver’s License information. I’ll probably be posting the second half up on Thursday unless something crazy happens in the interim that demands to be written about.

If you have any questions about this material, or see anything that you think is a mistake, let me know. I spent a good hour and a half while I was writing this going to each company’s website again to compare prices, and scouring the SD DMV website, but it’s certainly possible. Have a good week all!

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Becky

At IO I teach people how to ditch the status quo and travel full-time before retirement, and share stories of my adventures (and misadventures) to inspire future nomads and armchair travelers alike. Included at no additional charge: seizing your dreams, living boldly, and making a difference.

67 Comments

I have a question about getting a drivers lic. in SD. You mentioned that you would have to go there to apply for the license in person. if i fly there, and apply for a drivers lic. would i have to take a driving test? In other words rent a car?
Second question: I would apply to have both veh. reg. in SD (Pickup and large RV) is there a different lic. requirement for 43′ RV’s?
Brian B.

Beckyon February 15, 2018 at 12:25 pm

I believe as long as you have a valid driver’s license from another state, you would not need to take a driving test. I have not heard of anyone else having to (and I didn’t).

I’m not quite sure what you’re asking for your second question, if you need a commercial driver’s license for the motorhome? the answer to that is no. You can always call the DMV and ask them if you have more specific questions, they’ll have official answers that I don’t.

Rideron February 13, 2018 at 8:24 pm

Hi, Becky. Looks like two more updates are in order. It’s a pain but this is a really great resource (and it’s a top Google hit when I was searching for info) so I hope you’ll find the time!

In your section about the License Plate Fees that breaks down the cost by weight, age, and type, you wrote that the total payable amount is always in the 12-month column but it varies based on the first letter of the person’s last name. Source: http://dor.sd.gov/Motor_Vehicles/Fees/Titling_and_Registration.aspx (see “How are plates issued?” section)
I just did this today for a 2007, 9023 lb UVW (Unloaded Vehicle Weight) Class C that I purchased in January. My last name is Rider so I have to renew in August. Therefore I paid for January to August (8 months), which comes to $84, which is the amount itemized on my receipt and the amount in the “8” column of this chart:http://dor.sd.gov/Motor_Vehicles/Fees/PDFs/non-commercial%20motorhome.pdf

Beckyon February 15, 2018 at 12:21 pm

Thanks Rider! I’ll update it when I can.

steven graveson November 8, 2017 at 8:39 am

I seen where you mentioned owning a home in one state and transferring residency in another. I am in Va. and keeping my home however my kid will be living in the house making the payments etc. the taxes are incorporated in my mortgage. does that make much of a difference ? and thank you for all the info

Beckyon November 8, 2017 at 10:30 am

It might Steven and I’m not experienced enough in home ownership to tell you whether it’ll affect your residency claim in another state or not. If you have doubts, you might want to seek legal advice on the matter.

Glad you found this helpful!

Josieon August 14, 2017 at 12:43 pm

Thanks for the helpful information!

I just called Minnehaha County tax office (Sioux Falls area). They do not charge additional tax on top of the 4% excise tax (sales tax). I thought it would be helpful for you to update the information here.

Thanks for this great article. My question is: now that the Patriot Act has cracked down on banks needing to check for a verifiable physical address (and not a Commercial Mail Receiving /Forwarding Agent), would this still work? I found that none of my banks would recognize my mail forwarding address and required proof of a physical address.

Beckyon July 31, 2017 at 8:49 pm

Hello Ellen,

I’m sorry you’re having difficulties. You’re the first I’ve heard from who has had this problem though so it must not be universal, have you tried asking for advice on the various RVing forums and FB groups? I know there are RVers out there who watch closely for laws affecting us full-timers and coming up with solutions, Escapees RV Club for instance. I use Wells Fargo for my bank as it’s easy to find branches nationally and they had no problem with my address. Best of luck!

Great post Becky! CNBC actually rated South Dakota as the #1 state for residency in the entire US. They considered factors which apply to all RVers (like tax rates, trade fees, and inspections) and also factored in entrepreneur and business benefits (I know a lot of full time RVers who make a living with help from a hobby or home business). If anyone is thinking about joining the SD herd, there is another very helpful mail forwarder – Your Best Address (http://yourbestaddress.com). It’s good to have options! Check out all four providers to see which works best for you.Patrick L recently posted..Why Use a Mail Forwarding Service

Pamela A Rickeyon April 7, 2017 at 5:40 pm

Hi Becky,

Thanks for the great information. Very clear and concise. One thing I would point out is that different counties have significantly different wheel tax rates. The county where Dakota Post is located charges $15 per wheel with a max rate of $60–as do a number of other counties. So paying only $16 a year, as you do, vs. $60 a year might be a determining factor in choosing the mail company.

Question for you: What is your approach when a company won’t accept your mail forwarding service address as a residence? How often do you experience this issue?

P.S. We also travel in a Casita 17 ft SD. Our rig looks a lot like yours — complete with a gray tow vehicle with a shell (ours is a 2006 Toyota Tacoma). We love our little house – her name is “Gypsy”.

Beckyon March 14, 2017 at 11:58 pm

Bill, Geico was reluctant to accept the mail forwarding address, but did once I got on the phone and explained the situation to them. I’ve had no other issues. I suppose you could use a friend or relative’s address, or even just the mail forwarding company’s address without your PO Box number on it if they’ll let you.

Hope you like your Casita as much as I like mine, enjoy!

Rickon March 10, 2017 at 12:05 pm

Starting to research some of the details and wondering about a few things after reading things.

1. currently live in SC and planning to keep the home and rent it out
2. Want to set up residency in South Dakota but wondering about what to do in what order.
3. Can a person get a drivers license and set up residency without traveling to SD.
4. I am assuming it is best to get all set up as a resident of SD first and then buy the motorhome, which we think we will end up doing in Florida given the number of dealers there and closeness of the state to where we live now.
5. it sounds like once we are a resident of SD, we should get any current vehicles registered there, however we plan to only have one to tow behind a motorhome, so maybe best to get down to one before starting the process.
6. how often does a person need to be in SD to ensure no problems with residency.
7. Will there be a big problem if we own a house in SC that we rent out as long as we get everything set up in SD, like bank address etc etc, to show we are truly not in SC at all.

That’s all I can think of for now, any info would be helpful from anyone who has lived in SC. I know I will have a hefty home tax once it becomes a rental, but that’s fine. Want to keep the home just in case we end up wanting to come back.

Beckyon March 14, 2017 at 11:56 pm

Rick,

3. You need to go to SD to get your driver’s license, registration can be done online with the right forms (I mention that in this article, maybe in part 2). I claimed residency after I switched driver’s license, when the entire process was complete.
4. Given the low sales tax in South Dakota, yes it makes sense to wait probably.
6. SD has no residency requirements, which is why everyone loves it. You only need to spend one night every 5 years there to keep your drivers license.
7. I don’t know. Probably not, but as I responded to a similar comment about this above I know nothing about rental laws and every thing that stays tied to another state could potentially be a problem. I’d speak to someone who knows how rental and housing businesses work and ask them.

Dana Joneson October 20, 2016 at 3:41 pm

We are retiring and plan to go RBI gain but not full time. Will come back to bricks and mortar every few months so we’re not selling our home. Can we still establish SD residency and keep our home in Missouri?

Thank you SO much for your informative articles on setting up residency. I’m currently in South Dakota going through the process. It was much easier for me to decide what to do and figure out how, by reading your blog. Thanks again! – Deanna.

I know this is an old post, but I wondered if you had advice on when I should set up my mail forwarding service. Maybe I’m missing the point and you have to do it in person, but we are leaving our house at the end of this month and won’t be moving (and passing through SD) until 3-4 weeks later. Any advice is appreciated!

Beckyon March 9, 2016 at 9:20 am

Heya Deborah!

You absolutely can and should set up your mail forwarding ahead of time online. I did it about three weeks before I hit the road, to make sure none of my mail would get lost in the shuffle, it took me about a week to change my address with all my previous employers, insurances, etc. so at least give yourself that much time for it.

Deborahon March 9, 2016 at 10:34 am

Thanks, Becky. That makes complete sense.

I just saw you on Technomadia’s latest YouTube video. Great talk! I am setting out with my partner but I would definitely go it alone if I was single. Your blog is great, it is a really useful tool especially for those of us starting out. 🙂

Thank you for the great article. We are planning a two week trip from NC to SD in September to make our move. I’ll have to find a new job that allows me to move from place to place but as an experienced program/project manager and scrum master, I don’t think that will be difficult.Thanks for the great information

Beckyon January 30, 2016 at 11:07 am

You’re welcome Catherine, glad you found this helpful! Best of luck on the job searching.

Barbara Gonzalezon June 3, 2016 at 2:49 pm

Hey Catherine,
We are also from North Carolina (Fayetteville). We will be full timers in the near future. Have you purchased your RV yet? We wish you the best on your travels. We’re going to Hershey, PA RV show in September.

Your info helped me a ton in deciding which state and service to go with so thank you! We just got to South Dakota and are going tomorrow to get our new address, register the truck and camper and get our new drivers licenses! So thank you!

Beckyon October 27, 2015 at 6:33 pm

Heya Rachel, so glad to hear that this helped you make an informed decision. With luck the DMV and registering went quickly today, it was a pretty fast process when i did it. You’re welcome!

[…] we undertook the process of becoming South Dakota residents. In my research to prepare for this trip, I saw that a lot of people without a fixed address become […]

Neilon August 15, 2014 at 9:16 am

I have owned my RV for 4 years and my car for two years, paying cash for both and while residents of Oregon. Why do I have to pay excise tax when registering in SD and would they still consider the trade in difference when I purchased these vehicles.

Beckyon August 16, 2014 at 10:06 am

I’m not quite sure what you mean by excise tax in this case Neil, you mean sales tax on the vehicles? I had to pay sales tax on my RV when I moved to SD because in South Carolina I hadn’t paid any at all. I didn’t have to pay sales tax on the truck when I moved because I had already paid at least 3% tax on the truck when I bought it.

If you paid sales tax when you bought your RV and car, just bring your proof with you to the DMV and you won’t need to pay it again. If you didn’t pay it in Oregon, yes you will need to pay it. Why? I don’t know, I’m not a bureaucrat and I don’t decide on these policies, I just follow them because otherwise my RV lifestyle would be a challenge.

Since I didn’t have to pay sales tax on my truck, I’m not sure if trade in from previous vehicle fits into it or not. I didn’t trade in anything to buy my RV so it wasn’t a factor for me.

I hope this helps.

john oberlyon July 2, 2014 at 12:52 pm

can we use this mail forwarding even if we are moving around by plane and car ?

Beckyon July 6, 2014 at 1:09 pm

I don’t see why not John, as long as your traveling domestically. I’m not sure that my service would send my mail to another country, and if it would i bet I’d have to pay a lot more.

john oberlyon July 2, 2014 at 12:51 pm

can we do this if we are not RV’ing , but moving round by plane and car ?

Dewey & Stacyon June 29, 2014 at 5:27 pm

Hi thanks for post! Me and my wife are planning to go fulltime next year. I had a question about vehicle inspection. In my state NY we need to get a inspection every yr. how do people handle this? If your out state. I don’t know if all states have this.

Thanks,

Dewey & Stacy

Beckyon June 29, 2014 at 7:51 pm

The three big states for full-timing (South Dakota, Florida, Texas) don’t have this, and that’s one of the reasons why full-timers like “living” there. It sounds like you’ll just have to go back to NY every year for this inspection unless you can find a way to exempt from it? May want to do some digging on the NY DMV website or call someone there and explain your situation and see what they say. Good luck, and enjoy full-timing!

Dewey & Stacyon July 1, 2014 at 4:48 pm

Thanks for the info. I think South Dakota sounds nice to use as a home base since were selling our house anyway. I think it will be much easier to do since there a lot of info about how to do it.

Thanks again,
Dewey & Stacy

Beckyon March 26, 2014 at 8:57 pm

Hello Luisa,

First of all, congratulations on your impending adventure! You both must be very excited.

The prices went up slightly the year after I wrote this (2013), but it’s still cheaper than any other state I’ve lived in. The renewal process hasn’t changed since then, and I haven’t heard about any changes for new residents in the various RVing communities I’m in, but it sure doesn’t hurt to go take a peek. I found all of this information between asking on forums like http://www.rv.net/forum/, and visiting the SD Motor Vehicle site at http://dor.sd.gov/Motor_Vehicles/ hope that helps!

Safe travels and happy trails.

Luisaon March 27, 2014 at 2:21 am

Becky, thank you SO much! 🙂 I will def. look into those sites. Btw, we just put a deposit on our RV yesterday!!

Beckyon March 27, 2014 at 8:14 pm

That’s awesome Luisa! May it give you many years of faithful service on the road. What kind is it?

Luisaon March 28, 2014 at 1:27 am

LOL…it’s a 2014 Keystone Hideout 27DBS. It has the “Silver Birch” interior, and the double “bunk-style” beds, plus a large dinette, a sofa/bed and a queen bed. We also have a 55-lb. dog traveling with us, so we needed the space! 🙂

Barbara Gonzalezon June 3, 2016 at 2:34 pm

Hey Becky,
Thanks for all your efforts and time in providing the document on SD. Have you consider doing one on Texas? That would be outstanding. Your article is the best of I have found. You break it down very well.

Kind Regards,
Barbara

Beckyon June 3, 2016 at 6:09 pm

It’s unlikely right now Barbara as I have no first-hand experience with Texas, it’s hard to write about things you don’t know. The Escapees RV club is based out of Texas and they have a lot of information about becoming a TX resident though, that’s where I’d go to start: https://www.escapees.com/support/mail-service?id=199

Hope this helps!

Luisaon March 25, 2014 at 11:40 pm

Hi, and thanks for your post! Me & my Mom are about to become new, full-timer’s, and we currently live in NC (which is BAD for taxes!!). After reading everything, we are thinking about becoming residents of South Dakota. (The cheaper and easier, the better!) What I want to know is has any of this information changed??? This post was published in Nov. 2012!! I need the most up-to-date information obviously. Btw, we haven’t bought the RV yet, but are VERY close to doing so!
Thanks, and I hope to hear back from you soon!

Barbara Gonzalezon June 3, 2016 at 2:29 pm

Greetings Luisa,
You’ve probably have already received your answer. I am from Stedman, North Carolina. Little country town located outside of Fayetteville. We are now making decisions on how to make this dream of being full timers come true. Trying to figure out which state (SD/Texas) best suits us. Becky’s article on SD is wonderful. Don’t know if she has the same info on Texas. I will ask her.

P.S. I just saw (on Chris and Cherie’s Tecnomadia site) a profile of a cool couple who fulltime with their motorcycle on a lift system on the rear of their Class A motorhome. Thought that was pretty interesting, although a Class A would be major overkill for me! 🙂

Beckyon November 15, 2012 at 3:39 am

Fixed, good catches.

Motorcycle on the back of a class A, huh. Well it goes to prove that there are often several different answers to a problem if you look around. Now you have at least one more option to think about. 🙂

Bevon August 24, 2015 at 10:14 am

Bill, just to let you know, your link as well as all of Becky’s for the SD DMV only go to the homepage of the website and one still has to figure out where to go from there.

Beckyon August 25, 2015 at 9:24 pm

You’re correct Bev, they use to go to real pages, but the SD DMV must have changed the links at some point between 2012 and now (hence the disclaimer I keep up).

I’m afraid I’m low on bandwidth for the month so I can’t afford to hunt down the new links right now (I only get 3 GB a month here in Yellowstone). If you find the new links feel free to share them, otherwise I’ll update them when I have the data and the time which admittedly will probably be a while.

Very interesting article and timely too. We had actually settled on FL for our new “home” state but are taking another look at SD only because of the insurance cost. The only deterrent for SD is the 3% tax on the truck and trailer no matter when it was purchased.

FL law states that if your bought your vehicle prior to 6 months before becoming a resident then there is no property tax. But if you have to pay it, it is 6%.

We are coming from South Carolina and are very familiar with the “sock it to me” tag tax every year!!!

Thank you for your research and the concise way you shared it!Larry Bandstra recently posted..Want to Buy a House???

Beckyon November 13, 2012 at 4:37 pm

Larry, have you paid an excise (sales) tax on the vehicles in another state and have proof? If so then you’re covered. South Carolina collects that tax (but only up to a maximum of $300) on vehicles and I think motorhomes, but they don’t on trailers. So I needed to pay the 3% for the Casita in SD but nothing for the truck since I brought proof (my Bill of Sale from the dealership). I’m actually writing more about that in part 2 on Thursday.

That being said Florida is a good state for full-timers too. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. 🙂

Daleon November 13, 2012 at 10:45 pm

SD looks cheaper than FL by a ways. If you bring a vehicle into Florida you are out 225 bucks just for the hell of it (initial registraion fee they call it), and that’s before taxes, cost of tags, and titles.

Beckyon November 15, 2012 at 3:33 am

Eww! That part isn’t so fun. But then again it’s a much nicer place to winter. 😉

Great detailed post Becky. You made it all so very clear. I sure wish someone would do one just like this for changing your residence to Florida. Their state park discount added to other low tax things makes it a good deal for those who are there for the winters.Sherry recently posted..Silver Glen and Juniper Springs

Beckyon November 13, 2012 at 4:31 pm

Yep Sherry, the big three all have their own advantages. I’d try to do one for Florida or Texas but really it’s hard to know exactly how the process goes until you’ve gone through it yourself. It wouldn’t be nearly as detailed as my one for SD.

But the big reason people who choose to live on the road change their state of residence in the first place is tax burden. In South Carolina for instance, if I had remained a resident of that state, I’d still be paying property taxes on my truck and trailer every year, on top of the license decal renewal. This wasn’t like a one time sales tax kind of thing, it’s something South Dakota charges it’s drivers every year. In exchange South Carolina has one of the cheapest gas taxes in the US – but that doesn’t do me any good if I’m not in the state to take advantage of it.

Income tax too. I’m working as I travel, and I didn’t want to deal with the headache of filing in South Carolina as well as all the other states I’m going to be working in – what if South Carolina as my home state tried to claim some of my income taxable there because that’s where I “live”?

Some states are worse for taxes than others. You’ll have a much better idea than I do how your state rates as far as taxes are concerned. And there are reasons to stick with your original home state too. If you own property for instance, since owning property in one place yet claiming residency in another sets up red flags. Or if you’re going to be spending a significant part of your time in that state for one reason or another.

I hope that helps some. I don’t know where you’re coming from so it’s hard for me to tell you which would be better for your case without knowing more. Feel free to ask for more info or e-mail me if you’d like. 🙂

Garyon November 12, 2012 at 10:36 pm

Becky,

That helps and thanks. Pretty much what I was thinking but I must have missed the reasoning behind the decision in your earlier post. We have low liscense fees and no state income tax in Texas so nothing really to gain by changing our residency when we head out in May to do some full timing.

I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t missing something and it sounded like you had done a great deal of homeowrk on the subject and I appreciate your sharing with the rest of us. Happy Trails!

Beckyon November 13, 2012 at 4:28 pm

Yeah Gary, Texas is one of the big three states for full-timers (Florida being the third) so if you’re already a resident there it probably makes sense to stick with them, I was more posting this for the people who lived else-state and wanted to make the move to SD.

Garyon November 12, 2012 at 8:32 am

Becky … appreciate the effort and detail you have put into this for all the RV’rs out there. One request, if I may … could you go into some more detail as to “why” a person would choose to change their residency state?

I think it would be a great help for those of us getting ready to follow in your footsteps to havea better grasp of the pros & cons of doing such a thing. Thanks and Happy Trails!

MARVINon November 12, 2012 at 8:23 am

.

Another great post !

Accurate , concise , and readable . Your research and clickable data points are the best .

The RV community will be a better place due to your experience and efforts .

Thank You – Be Safe

.

Beckyon November 12, 2012 at 4:07 pm

Thanks Marvin, safe travels and happy trails to you too.

Bevon August 24, 2015 at 10:36 am

Becky, Thank you for your great article. I have a couple of clarifying questions if you don’t mind.
1. I just bought my rig in CA a few months ago and of course paid a lot of taxes. Should I wait until that registration to expire before registering it in SD?
2. Do you know if this could be an issue with the company financing my that is a credit union and only has offices in CA and requires me to have a bank account with them and would having that call into question my residency?
3. My CA driver’s license doesn’t expire until October of 2018. Do I wait until then to get a SD one?
4. Do you know anything about setting up a (online) business with an LLC and if the cost for that would also be cheaper in SD?
Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much. Bev

Beckyon August 25, 2015 at 9:33 pm

Hello Bev.

1. You won’t get a credit on registration in SD for having paid recently in CA, so if you want to save yourself some money, yes probably a good idea to wait although you certainly don’t have to, you’ll just end up paying for both in a short amount of time.

2. It might, you’ll have to contact your credit union and ask if they’ll have a problem with you “moving” as they’re all different. If you stick with your bank in CA after “moving” yes, it will make your claim as a SD resident less sure. Will it be enough to cause a problem? I’m afraid there’s no way to know for sure, all I can say is the more of your business you move to SD, the less likely you are to have a problem.

3. No you don’t have to wait, in fact if you let it expire that’d be bad. You’ll turn it in to the DMV in SD when you get your license there, no matter how long it’s still good for.

4. I have heard that the price for LLC’s in SD is reasonable, but I’ve never researched it myself since I don’t need one for the online work I do right now.

Hope this helps!

Bev Berryon March 12, 2017 at 9:14 pm

Hi Becky. Well, it took me over a year to finally take the plunge and set up my residency in SD. The good news was that i would probably save about $200 on my vehicle registration although I’ll know for sure in a couple of months when I register my RV in SD. The BAD news was a surprise. My vehicle insurance (with the same company, Progressive) is going to cost me about $200 more per year than my current policy in CA!! I was quite frustrated to discover this because I believe every article I read, including yours (admitted it was awhile ago) did not really talk about vehicle insurance differences. I know SD doesn’t have state income taxes and CA does but I’m not working enough for this to be an issue. I’m actually considering possible returning my residency to CA but i think I’m going to move everything over to SD first and see how it all pans out since I’m half way done anyway. I don’t know, its kine of a dilemma. Any ideas, suggestions? Anything is appreciate. Thanks, Bev

Beckyon March 14, 2017 at 11:46 pm

The difference between vehicle insurance in SC and SD was negligible Bev, I’m sorry it was such a difference for CA and I understand your frustration but I hope you understand that it wouldn’t have made sense for me to check the difference in cost between all the different states and SD when I wrote this article – the laws and minimal coverage requirements differ so much.

You can call around other insurance companies and see if they’ll offer you a better rate. You can try going through an insurance agent and see if they can negotiate a better deal (I used AISinsurance.com). You can check exactly what you’re getting coverage for with Progressive compared to SD’s laws and see if you can be covered for less and save money that way. You can check on RVing forums like RV.net and rvnetwork.com and see if anyone has more advice on there.

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